Pancake Day 2025 is on Tuesday, March 4, 2025: How did pancake day come about?

Tuesday, March 4, 2025 is Pancake Day 2025. Shrove Tuesday (also known as Shrovetide Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday and Pancake Day) is the day preceding Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.

Shrove Tuesday (also known as Shrovetide Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday and Pancake Day) is the day preceding Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.

Pancake Day is the second solo album by Victor DeLorenzo, better known as drummer of Violent Femmes. It was produced and engineered by Michael Hoffman and DeLorenzo.

Celebrate Pancake Day by, you presumed it, consuming pancakes! Keep it easy with flour, egg, milk and butter, or acquire unique and consider a pinch of salt, ice-water, vanilla and more! Sweet or savoury, pancakes are hugely versatile and complement everything from the conventional honey and lemon to additional unusual substances such as rhubarb or savoury mince-meat!

pancake day also known as Shrove Tuesday’ has been held since 1445.

The day before the beginning of Lent is known as Shrove Tuesday. To shrive someone, in old-fashioned English (he shrives, he shrove, he has shriven or he shrives, he shrived, he has shrived), is to hear his acknowledgement of his sins, to assure him of God's forgiveness, and to give him appropriate spiritual advice. The term survives today in ordinary usage in the expression "short shrift". To give someone short shrift is to pay very little attention to his excuses or problems. The longer expression is, "to give him short shrift and a long rope," which formerly meant to hang a criminal with a minimum of delay.

On Shrove Tuesday, many Christians make a special point of self-examination, of considering what wrongs they need to repent, and what amendments of life or areas of spiritual growth they especially need to ask God's help in dealing with. Often they consult on these matters with a spiritual counselor, or receive shrift.

Shrove Tuesday is also called Fat Tuesday (in French, Mardi=Tuesday; gras=fat, as in "pate de foie gras", which is liver paste and very fatty), because on that day a thrifty housewife uses up the fats that she has kept around (the can of bacon drippings, or whatever) for cooking, but that she will not be using during Lent. Since pancakes are a standard way of using up fat, the day is also called Pancake Tuesday. In England, and perhaps elsewhere, the day is celebrated with pancake races. The contestants run a course while holding a griddle and flipping a pancake. Points are awarded for time, for number and height of flips, and number of times the pancake turns over. There are of course penalties for dropping the pancake.

What IS Pancake Day all about?

Pancake day started out as a Pagan holiday when Pagans would celebrate the day the God of the Pancake (Pancaktus which is where we get the word pancake) would descend to Earth and give everyone yummy pancakes and it would rain maple syrup upon the Earth. One day the Trickster God (Waffleitus) came down and stole the scared Pancake recipe and gave it to the humans so that they could make their own pancakes and no longer needed Pancaktus.

This in turn caused Pancaktus to cry every day because he was no longer needed by the humans.

The Pagan tradition was lost and forgotten, except once a year people would have pancake day, and they never knew the real reason behind it. It is said that Pancake day is the only day of the year that Pancaktus tears actually stop.

how do you play pancake day?

Shrove Tuesday ----- Pancake Day!!!

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Pancakes with strawberry syrup and blackcurrantsShrove Tuesday is the term used in Ireland, the United Kingdom,[1] Australia,[2] and Canada to refer to the day after Shrove Monday (or the more old fashioned Collop Monday) and before Ash Wednesday (the liturgical season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday). In Ireland, the UK, and amongst Anglicans, Lutherans and possibly other Protestant denominations in Canada including Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, this day is also known as Pancake Day, because it is customary to eat pancakes on this day.[3][4][5] In other parts of the world—for example, in historically Catholic and French-speaking parts of the United States and elsewhere—this day is called Mardi Gras. In areas with large Polish-immigrant populations (for example, Chicago) it is known as Tłusty Czwartek (literally: Fat Thursday) and celebrated on the Thursday before Lent. And in areas with large German-immigrant populations (for example, Pennsylvania Dutch Country) it is known as Fasnacht Day (also spelled Fausnacht Day and Fauschnaut Day).

The French also have a festival associated with pancakes (crêpes) which is held on February 2 each year. This festival is called Chandeleur and is a celebration of light (the name is derived from the word "chandelle" which also gave the English word "candle". The festival is known as Candlemas in English). It is thought that pancakes are associated to this celebration because of the solar symbolism of their shape and color. A traditional food for Mardi Gras are sweet fried dumplings, cenci, usually served in the shape of a loose knot (a 5cm wide, 20cm long strip of dough one extremity of which is passed through a slit in its middle). In New Orleans the traditional food is king cake.

The reason that pancakes are associated with the day preceding Lent is that the 40 days of Lent form a period of liturgical fasting, during which only the plainest foodstuffs may be eaten. Therefore, rich ingredients such as eggs, milk, and sugar are disposed of immediately prior to the commencement of the fast. Pancakes and doughnuts were therefore an efficient way of using up these perishable goods, besides providing a minor celebratory feast prior to the fast itself [2].

The word shrove is a past tense of the English verb "shrive," which means to obtain absolution for one's sins by confessing and doing penance.[6] Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the shriving (confessing) that Anglo-Saxon Christians were expected to do prior to receiving absolution immediately before Lent.[7]

Shrove Tuesday is the last day of "shrovetide," which is the English equivalent to the Carnival tradition that developed separately out of the countries of Latin Europe. In countries of the Carnival tradition, the day before Ash Wednesday is known either as the "Tuesday of Carnival" (in Spanish-speaking countries, "Martes de Carnaval," in Portuguese-speaking countries, "Terça-feira de Carnaval", in German "Faschingsdienstag") or "Fat Tuesday" (in Portuguese-speaking countries "Terça-feira Gorda", in French-speaking countries, "Mardi Gras," in Italian-speaking countries, "Martedì Grasso", in Sweden, "Fettisdagen"). In Estonian, Vastlapäev.

The term "Shrove Tuesday" is not widely known in the United States,[8][9] especially in those regions that celebrate Mardi Gras on the day before Ash Wednesday.

Contents [hide]

1 Pancake Day

2 Shrove Tuesday traditions particular to the United Kingdom

2.1 The Pancake Greaze

2.2 Shrove Tuesday Football

3 Other traditions

4 Dates

5 See also

6 Footnotes

7 External links

[edit] Pancake Day

In United Kingdom,[10] Ireland,[11], Australia[12], New Zealand, India and Canada, Shrove Tuesday is known colloquially as Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday[13]. The traditional pancake is slightly thicker than a French crêpe. It is served immediately and is traditionally served with a sprinkling of caster sugar (0.35 mm) or granulated sugar, (superfine sugar in the United States) and a dash of fresh lemon juice or with syrup. Many other sweet and savoury toppings are used today (for example, in Canada pancakes are sometimes served with maple syrup).

In Australia, UnitingCare Australia (the social services arm of the Uniting Church in Australia) has advertised Pancake Day as a nation-wide event for the community that raises awareness for the plight of disadvantaged people by raising money for UnitingCare's work.[14]

The Rehab UK Parliamentary Pancake Race also takes place every Shrove Tuesday, with teams from the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Fourth Estate battling it out for the title of Parliamentary Pancake Race Champions. This light-hearted relay race is held to raise awareness of the work of national brain injury charity, Rehab UK, and the needs of people with acquired brain injury.

[edit] Shrove Tuesday traditions particular to the United Kingdom

On Pancake Day, pancake races are held in villages and towns across the United Kingdom.[15] In 1634 William Fennor wrote in his Palinodia:

"And tosse their Pancakes up for feare they burne."

But the tradition of pancake racing had started long before that. The most famous pancake race, at Olney in Buckinghamshire, has been held since 1445. The contestants, traditionally women, carry a frying pan and race to the finishing line tossing the pancakes as they go. As the pancakes are thin, some skill is required to toss them successfully while running. The winner is the first to cross the line having tossed the pancake a certain number of times.

The tradition is said to have originated when a housewife from Olney was so busy making pancakes, that she forgot the time until she heard the church bells ringing for the service. She raced out of the house to church while still carrying her frying pan and pancake.

Since 1950 the people of Liberal, Kansas, USA and Olney have held the "International Pancake Day" race between the two towns. The two towns' competitors race along an agreed-upon course, and the times of all of the two towns' competitors are compared, to determine a winner. After the 2000 race, Liberal was leading with 26 wins to Olney's 24.[16]

Also, in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, the foreshore road (beach)is closed off, schools close early and all residents are invited to skip in the road!

[edit] The Pancake Greaze

Another local tradition, the Pancake Greaze, takes place every year at Westminster School in London. A pancake, reinforced with horsehair, is prepared in advance and on Shrove Tuesday tossed into the air "up School". The boys at the school then attempt to get as much of it as they can. See the Customs section of the Westminster School article.

[edit] Shrove Tuesday Football

Many towns throughout England held traditional Shrove Tuesday football ('Mob football') games dating as far back as the 12th century. The practice mostly died out with the passing of the Highway Act 1835, which banned the playing of football on public highways, but a number of towns have managed to maintain the tradition to the present day including Alnwick in Northumberland, Ashbourne in Derbyshire (called the Royal Shrovetide Football Match), Atherstone (called the Ball Game) in Warwickshire, Sedgefield (called the Ball Game) in County Durham, and St Columb Major (called Hurling the Silver Ball) in Cornwall.

[edit] Other traditions

In the Canadian province of Newfoundland, household objects are baked into the pancakes and served to family members. Rings, thimbles, thread, coins, and other objects all have meanings associated with them. The lucky one to find coins in their pancake will be rich, the finder of the ring will be the first married, and the finder of the thimble will be a seamstress or tailor.

In Estonia (Vastlapäev) and Finland (Laskiainen), this day is associated with hopes for the coming year. On this day, families go sledging and eat split pea and ham soup. A toy is made from the ham bone by tying the bone to a string and spinning it around to make a whistling noise. There is a tale told that if you cut your hair on this day, it will grow fast and thick for the next year.

In Germany, Austria and Slovenia people traditionally eat Berliner, Krapfen or Krof.

In Hawaii, this day is also known as Malasada Day. Dating back to the days of the sugar plantations in the 1800s, the Portuguese immigrants would need to use up all of their butter and sugar prior to Lent. They did so by making large batches of Malasada (Portuguese Doughnuts), which they would subsequently share with friends from all the other ethnic groups in the plantation camps. This led to the popularity of the Malasada in Hawaii. Still a tradition in Hawaii, Leonard's Bakery would experience long lines to purchase discounted Malasadas on this day.

In Iceland the day is known as "Sprengidagur" (Bursting day) and is marked with the eating of salt meat and peas.

In Lithuania the day is called Užgavėnės, and many pancakes (blynai) and Lithuanian style doughnuts (spurgos) are eaten.

In Michigan, especially in the Hamtramck area near Detroit with a large Polish community, Pączki Day is celebrated with pączki eating contests, music and Polish food.

In Pennsylvania, it is a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition to eat a type of doughnuts called Fastnachts (or Fasnachts). The Fastnacht would be made of all the sweets and other soon-to-be-forbidden items in the household and then consumed on Fat Tuesday so that one would not be tempted during the Lenten Fast. Today they are made from potato dough and frie